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Almaden Family Physicians Medical Group
Rating Details »
- By Appointment Only:
- Yes
11 reviews for Almaden Family Physicians Medical Group
I gave them a decent review a few weeks ago then they hit me like a semi-truck on my last visit. I moved my kids immediately to a new Pediatrician and I'm just looking for somewhere to move myself.
When that move is over, I'll post more details of the horrors of this clinic! Until then, I have to lay low and suck up so they don't alter my medical records.
I have been going to these guys for as long as remember and they keep disappointing me over and over. there is NO privacy for patients. and they make the whole experience like what you would expect from a ghetto public facility, their place is outdated and it shows it. there scheduling system is really frustrating, you can never get a hold of anyone to talk to they only call you, always the answering machine.
with all that said Dr. Ettinger is great, he is some what reserved but really smart and patient.
Avoid at all costs. I've been in healthcare for 20 years and I was appalled by the behavior of this office.
I cannot write a worse review of a place that this place.
The staff is beyond rude, completely unprofessional and incompetent. Fat, stupid and lazy is no way to go through life and these people seem to only hire them.
Only one doctor is worth anything there and I can't remember his name. Maybe because I was in complete shock to have seen him.
I have had to go because of emergencies like sudden hives or 102 temperature and I have always gotten a hassle to get in and once in, encounter a fool of a doctor. I would NEVER go here unless absolutely necessary and how these people stay in business is beyond me because everyone in Almaden Valley hates them and despises their services.
Guess when you have a monopoly you can push people around and treat everyone like dirt. It is almost better to go to Valley Med and wait 6 hours in emergency than go the 5 minutes from my house to see these idiots.
It's been many years since I've been to AFPG so excuse me if things have changed.
The thing you need to know about this practice is that it's an HMO office. That means that the insurance companies are paying them next to nothing to treat you. They are going to cut costs in any way then can. You've got to expect grumpy, overworked and underpaid staff. They are also cramming every possible patient into the doctor's schedule that they possibly can. MDs are generally trained to put on a good face so it's not obvious that they are also overworked.
As HMO offices go, this one is better than most. If you get sick, you can get an appointment with "your" doctor before the disease either puts you in the hospital or runs its course naturally. They seem to be pretty good at recruiting even if their turnover is high. That would account for the reviewers who say that the office is a zoo but they stay there for "their" doctor.
I got lucky. I had one good doctor there who quit. Then I got a second one who is probably the best in the city. I saw him for about a month before he left and started his own practice. (See my review of Neeraj Kochhar, MD) I followed him to his new office and I've been seeing him ever since. He stays away from HMOs in his new office.
HMO insurance is a financial scam with the slight risk of death. If an HMO is the only insurance you can get, you are better off ignoring the network list. Find a good GP and just pay him cash for basic and preventative care. If you ever really get expensively sick, you can go back to your HMO office knowing the diagnosis and ready to demand the appropriate care or specialist referral.
I have had fairly good experiences with the Dr's there. However, the front desk staff is not very welcoming or friendly. When you call to schedule an appointment you have to leave a voicemail and wait for them to call you back. if you are like most people out working or in class and miss their call you have to call them back leave a message and wait for them to call you again. Really it's a game of phone tag. This is not an efficient way to do business or take care of sick patients. In addition, the staff argues with their patents rather than calming them down or making the feel comfortable. I have asked to get a copy of all my medical records, I am fed up with the front desk. It is unfortunate because the Dr's that work there are great. Someone has to bring it to their attention so that they do not continuously loose patients due to their front desk staff.
Soo here is an update. I wrote a formal complain to this place and they sent me a letter back. Basically saying that there are two sides to the story and that my side did not match with their staff member. Formally calling me a liar. Im sorry, my friends knew what I was going through with this company and they can support the fact that I was not lying about the situation.
I'm going to be a maverick and give this place 3 stars - or else I suppose I could review the front desk and billing staff separately from the doctors. Then it would be 1 star and 5 stars.
The front office staff are obviously overworked and probably underpaid - which makes them grumpy, irritable, and incompetent at the best of times. Don't even get me started on the worst of times. I've had issues with getting appointments booked, with paying for services, with the nursing staff (all but one of whom are in a constant state of change - only one nurse has been there the whole time I've been going here - since 1987 and I adore her).
So why do I keep going back? The doctors. Well, one doctor mostly. He's been the doctor for my whole family since he came on board in 1988. He was the pediatrician for my kids (I trusted him more than going out and finding someone new to see my kids only to have them change to this guy when they were deemed "too old" for the pediatrician anymore). He has seen my family through everything from allergies and chicken pox, to major medical and we trust him. When my insurance wouldn't let me go to this office for a while, I paid out of my own pocket to get a 2nd opinion from him - which spared me having to undergo a major test involving radioactive dyes because he diagnosed me with one simple non-invasive test.
The other doctors are ok - I'll see them in a pinch if I can't get in with my own doc without fear for my life or anything, but yah, the office staff SUCKS, the nurses come and go and can either be fabulous or horrible (except the one, who sadly isn't the nurse for the doctor I see), billing can be a royal PITA (although they've screwed up three times in my favour by failing to bill for emergency visits, so hey ...) ... and if my doctor ever moves to another group, I'll be moving too.
Can one doctor really be that good? For my family, the answer is yes. I wonder how much of this one doctor's dedicated patient base is what's keeping the place afloat, honestly.
Since writing my previous review, I had to go to the emergency room while on a business trip. This was after I started coughing up blood. Apparently, AFPMG missed that I had pneumonia! Complete incompetence. On my next day off, I will dedicate time to find out where I can begin to register complaints against AFPMG. For the sake of public safety/health, their incompetence needs to be addressed.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/21/2008
I would like to give negative stars, but that is not an option. I don't know why I went to this… Read more »
all i can say is absolutely horrible. One of the worst doctor's offices I've ever gone to.
Even my first call to the office turned me off from going here. Yes, I am now without insurance due to a health impairment that has prevented me from working fulltime for a year (I manage to work part time in pain), but they charge $140 just for a visit... basically just to get a doctor to listen to you for 15min. Every other doctor and specialist I've seen charges $70-90. I checked Yelp to see if the doctors here are magicians or something wonderful to warrant costing nearly double what every other practice charges but I see they're the typical rude, uncaring, money hungry drones you'd expect for someone that charges double in the name of health and wellness. Shame on them, not on me. I'm glad I didn't proceed any further with this bad experience.
I have been a patient here for almost 5 years. The doctors have never really diagnosed anything with me. I just have not been impressed with their expertise. The last time I went I expressed my frustration with the girl at the front desk. She is actually a very nice person and I do like her a lot. She suggested I see a new female doctor that recently joined their staff. My first appointment with her went well, she actually ordered me blood work and made it seem that she would figure out why I felt so sick and uncomfortable all of the time. She asked me a lot of questions and did a lot of typing in her computer. She also said that she wanted to do a complete physical on me in a week after my blood work was done. They sent me a questionarre in the mail that said that I must bring this to my appointment completed or my appointment would be re-scheduled and I would still be charged So i went in a week later for my physial and.... nothing!!! They did ask for the questionarre at the front desk, but at no time during the appointment did ht edoctor have it in her hands. I was told to undress, which I did , and all she did was listen to my chest and back, just like she did during my last appointment where i didn't have to take my clothes off... She then once again asked me all the same questions we had already gone over during the first appointment and some that were on the questionarre then concluded that she should send me to a specialist. Where was the physical?? Seems like they just want my co-pay. By then I was fed up. I've lost faith....
